Photograph:
A Phantom in the United States (Author’s collection)
Country of origin:
United States of America
Description:
Single-seat ultralight sport aircraft
Power Plant:
One 30 kw (40 hp) Rotax 447 two-cylinder, two-stroke, single-ignition air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 8.69 m (28 ft 6 in)
- Length: 5.08 m (16 ft 8 in)
- Height: 2.49 m (8 ft 2 in)
- Wing area: 13.2 m² (142 sq ft)
- Max speed: 98 km/h (61 mph)
- Cruising speed: 89 km/h (55 mph)
- Stalling speed: 42 km/h (26 mph)
- Rate of climb: 244 m/min (800 ft/min)
- Fuel capacity: 19 litres (4.17 Imp gals)
- G limits: +6.6/-4.4
- Empty weight: 113 kg (250 lb)
- Loaded weight: 231 kg (510 lb)
History:
The Phantom was one of a series of single-engine, single-seat, ultralight aircraft designed and developed in a range of models by Phantom Aeronautics of Three Rivers, Michigan. It was made available to the amateur construction market in kit form. It was aimed to meet FAR Part 103 Ultralight Vehicles regulations and when first introduced to the public at the Sun ‘n Fun fly-in in Florida 1982 it attracted a lot of attention. Following its acceptance, it was built by a number of manufacturers including Phantom Aircraft of Kalamazoo, Michigan. A number of variants of the Phantom were made available, including the Bell Sidewinder, Hy-Tek Hurricane 103, Worldwide Ultralite Spitfire and the Golden Gate Mosquito.
The Phantom was built of aluminium tubing and bolted together, the wing and tail surfaces being covered in Dacron sailcloth in pre-formed sewn envelopes. The wings were wire-braced from a V-shaped kingpost and had full span ailerons. An option was folding wings for transport and storage. The cockpit pod was manufactured from fibreglass. It had a tricycle undercarriage and had a steerable nosewheel.
Variants included the X-1 with the Rotax 447 engine; the X-1E with a fully enclosed cockpit; the X-2 which appeared in 1995, had two seats for training and had the 37 kw (50 hp) Rotax 503 or 48 kw (64 hp) Rotax 582 engine; the Phantom I-E, a single-seater with either the Rotax 503 or 582 engine; and the Phantom II being a two-seat variant with struts in lieu of cable bracing and having the Rotax 582, Jabiru 2200 or Rotax 912 engine.
A number of examples were imported to this region and, although the design was never approved in New Zealand, at least two examples were built and flown, being said to have been the inspiration for the Microlight B-10 Bantam.